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I personally don't care whether someone served in the military or not, but I got a kick out of these explanations from people who chose not to enlist. I think the most common reason I heard when I was in the Navy in the 70's was "I wouldn't want to cut my hair." Now every male on the street looks like he just got a Boot Camp buzz cut, so that explanation won't work anymore.
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Why should anyone have to explain why they didn't enlist? It's an all-volunteer force in principle... they have no obligation to enlist, nor do they owe anyone an explanation for it. "I didn't want to" should be more than reason enough.
I'm more annoyed by those who feel that those who didn't enlist owe them an explanation. **** that. I joined for my own reasons, and they're mine alone... the other person didn't join for their own reasons, and those are theirs alone. I also noticed living in Colorado Springs that a lot of those really trying to push the, "I served for all things American - baby Jesus, hot dogs, pizza, and bald eagles - what's your excuse?" tend to be E1 to E4, REMFs, and no patch on their right sleeve. Don't really think anybody should feel like they owe the E1 PAC clerk with the entitlement complex anything, let alone an explanation.
I wanted to enlist when I was about 19 years old. My mother told me that she'd do something like break my legs if I even tried. No daughter of hers was going to enlist. I ended up marrying a guy who was in the military.
Why should anyone have to explain why they didn't enlist? It's an all-volunteer force in principle... they have no obligation to enlist, nor do they owe anyone an explanation for it. "I didn't want to" should be more than reason enough.
I'm more annoyed by those who feel that those who didn't enlist owe them an explanation. **** that. I joined for my own reasons, and they're mine alone... the other person didn't join for their own reasons, and those are theirs alone. I also noticed living in Colorado Springs that a lot of those really trying to push the, "I served for all things American - baby Jesus, hot dogs, pizza, and bald eagles - what's your excuse?" tend to be E1 to E4, REMFs, and no patch on their right sleeve. Don't really think anybody should feel like they owe the E1 PAC clerk with the entitlement complex anything, let alone an explanation.
No one needs to explain, but it seems like many people voluntarily start to even though no one solicited it from them.
I have heard this plenty of times; I am engaged in conversations with people, they ask/we start talking about my military service and such, then they throw out explanations why they did not join, even though I did not ask nor even care why they did not.
No one needs to explain, but it seems like many people voluntarily start to even though no one solicited it from them.
I have heard this plenty of times; I am engaged in conversations with people, they ask/we start talking about my military service and such, then they throw out explanations why they did not join, even though I did not ask nor even care why they did not.
In the 50's when I served, it came up in conversations. My answer usually was, you either served or you were a draft dodger, then you would really hear,"I would have served except ".
Simbared... I know some soldiers think they need a explanation to why people did not join the military. But we are each our own person. We do not need to explain at all to anyone of our decisions in life. Under your rights, the Right to remain silent. So it's the American way to not have to provide an explanation to someone who is just trolling. So I'm guessing you're UnAmerican socialist/communist soldier who enlisted to get the right to be a u.s citizen. Otherwise reevaluate yourself on what it means to be American. By the way, I spent roughly 500 dollars to join with medical records and doctors to look at me because of my flat foot issue. Civilian docters all six of them said i was good to go physically and mentally but the MEPS doctor said no. Apparently a Mep doctor's ego is all it takes to shoot down each recommendation. So yeah I tried to joining twice. But couldn't because i was deemed a medical liability.
Simbared... I know some soldiers think they need a explanation to why people did not join the military. But we are each our own person. We do not need to explain at all to anyone of our decisions in life. Under your rights, the Right to remain silent. So it's the American way to not have to provide an explanation to someone who is just trolling. So I'm guessing you're UnAmerican socialist/communist soldier who enlisted to get the right to be a u.s citizen. Otherwise reevaluate yourself on what it means to be American. By the way, I spent roughly 500 dollars to join with medical records and doctors to look at me because of my flat foot issue. Civilian docters all six of them said i was good to go physically and mentally but the MEPS doctor said no. Apparently a Mep doctor's ego is all it takes to shoot down each recommendation. So yeah I tried to joining twice. But couldn't because i was deemed a medical liability.
So you harass him and call him an unAmerican socialist/communist because you couldn't join?
People in the military don't care why those not in the military didn't join in a volunteer Army. During draft times, I could see it being questioned. But I see more people volunteering reasons they didn't join than service members asking why someone didn't.
BTW, that MEP's doctor is following guidelines passed down to him from the chain of command. I seriously doubt he would DQ someone because of his ego or personal preference.
People ask me why I "volunteered" to enter an officer program in the Vietnam era when so many of my high school and college friends avoided the draft. My answer always has been: "I didn't want to get killed and I liked the uniforms".
But this is only partly true. At the time I made this decision, i had just been jilted by my first real girlfriend in college, a beautiful and kind cowgirl from a then small town not far from Aspen, CO. When i returned from this experience to my college dormitory room, the first thing I noticed was, among my new mail lying on my bed, there was a flyer from the Reserve Officer Candidate (ROC) Program, featuring a picture of US Navy officer in his service dress blue uniform. Broken-hearted, I filled out the application form. That's the rest of the story.
Sad to say, I wasn't a very good officer, but i served, nonetheless, on active duty for 3 years and didn't get killed. Girls loved the uniform.
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